


Momentum

by deansnuggles



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie) - Freeform, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), not 2nd person pov the summary just looks like it, post-everything idk how to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 04:06:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18402770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deansnuggles/pseuds/deansnuggles
Summary: You learned, living at the Tower, that wounded animals prefer the privacy of a dark corner, and that stillness and quiet meant keep your distance or else get caught by a claw.





	Momentum

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a moment in time from some amorphous time period when everyone is living at the compound and trying to figure out how they fit together again in an everyone-lives future. Can be read as pre-slash or friendship.

When Steve comes down for breakfast, Tony is at the table curled around a coffee mug, motionless, seemingly lost in thought. Too still. Something Steve learned early on, back when they all lived in the Tower, back when everything was almost okay, was that Tony was never still unless something was very wrong. Whether he was working, playing, fighting, or just living, he was in constant motion, hands, eyes, mouth, fidgeting fingers, tapping toes, running commentary. Stillness was reserved for grief, pain, and times when manic levels of anxiety and over-preparedness burst, leaving moroseness and lack of motivation. 

You learned, living at the Tower, that wounded animals prefer the privacy of a dark corner and that stillness and quiet meant keep your distance or else get caught by a claw. It had only taken a few run-ins with those claws, resulting in screaming matches heard from floors away, to learn to avoid. He'd thought he was respecting wishes. He'd thought, after being pushed away again and again, that he'd learned the right lesson. He'd wondered in the years since, going over and over what-ifs after everything fell apart, if perhaps people push to see if you'll push back. If the struggle is better than the emptiness left behind if you leave. If you do leave, well, better to know now than later. Better to not get too attached.

They'd both pushed. They'd both left. It hadn't helped.

He had, after all, gotten too attached.

He'd never been good at reading people outside of a battlefield.

In years past Steve would have said good morning, perhaps offered to top off his mug, then made his retreat back to safety. They all had their demons, they all knew, or thought they knew, that time and distance healed most wounds, or at least scarred them over and stopped them bleeding out.

But maybe demons thrived on loneliness. Maybe the monsters only come out when there's no one around to see them.

Maybe, instead of cornering, instead of pushing, what a wounded animal needs is a sidelong approach. Maybe momentum can heal in it's wake.

He sits down at the table.  
He says, "you busy today?"  
He says, "I was thinking of checking out that new exhibit, I missed so much and haven't had much of a chance to catch up. Probably pretty boring for you but I hate going alone, you know?"  
He says, "I could use the company."

Tony looks up finally, eyes sharp, searching Steve's face. What he's looking to find or hoping not to find, Steve's unsure, so he keeps his eyes open, masks down, eyebrows slightly raised in question but not challenge.

"Yeah," Tony says, downing his coffee, leaning back, claws retracted. "Yeah, okay." And for a moment, he almost smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> thank youuuuu for reading! this is my first time writing these two, and my first time writing in many years!


End file.
